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Back after a LONG time away- current hardware requirements
johnm160:
--- Quote from: Malenko on April 15, 2023, 06:48:51 pm ---You can pick up a used Dell i5 6th gen CPU for like $100 on ebay with 16GB of RAM and a big hard drive. You can get 8th gen i5 dells with 16 GB of RAM and SSD HD for about $300.
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Thanks, I have a guy that sells these local, just trying to find the sweet spot after being away from this for so long.
johnm160:
--- Quote from: PL1 on April 15, 2023, 02:38:16 pm ---
--- Quote from: johnm160 on April 15, 2023, 12:14:47 pm ---I am wondering what everyone is finding to be workable hardware (cpu/memory) for the latest version of MAME.
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--- Quote from: johnm160 on April 15, 2023, 12:29:42 pm ---What are the thoughts on an I3 with 4 gig memory for the current mame set?
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It depends on which titles are on your game list.
- Most of the old-school classics are no problem, though the ones with analog audio circuits can be surprisingly demanding.
- CPU intensive games like Gauntlet Legends or NFL Blitz might be sluggish, depending on the CPU clock speed.
General specs that should work for most MAME games:
Processor - I3 or higher
Clock speed - 3.5 GHz or higher (higher is definitely better)
Number of CPU cores - 4 is the most that MAME can currently use
Memory - 4GB or higher
GPU - MAME doesn't need a powerful GPU, but you might want a good card if you plan to run any Steam or other modern games. If you have a CRT setup, you may want to use one of the not-so-new cards that are known to work with GroovyMAME.
Scott
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It is going to probably be a mix. The ancient board in my Tempest died, I am not interesting in figuring out if it is the cpu/ram or HD I would rather just replace it as it is easily 15 yrs old if it is a day.
I am not sure if I am going to mess with the arcade monitors anymore, I have not made that decision yet. Connecting an LED monitor to it is naturally much easier.
The next project will be another classic, I have been wanting to do a Donkey Kong for a long time. Then I need to pull my vertical machine out of storage and see if the board in that still works. I built that one in 2003 I think. After that will be a machine that does all of the multi player fighters.
I know tempest and donkey kong will play on anything, I was not sure about the other games on this new rom set.
Since these will be in arcade cabinets I am not anticipating anything steam related.
Thanks I appreciate the input.
Haze:
--- Quote from: PL1 on April 15, 2023, 02:38:16 pm --- Processor - I3 or higher
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I think it's time to start being more specific here.
i3 / i5 / i7 labels alone are meaningless as this point, because there are so many generations of them (14 at this point)
The difference between a first gen i3/i5/i7 and a current gen i3/i5/i7 is huge, and in many cases can be 2-3 times the performance at the same clock speed as far as MAME is concerned.
At this point, I think it's best to say a 6th generation or above. Technically I still do dev on an i7-4790K, which is 4th generation (10 years ago!) but it's was one of the fastest CPUs of that generation so *just about* still holds up for the more demanding netlist audio etc. A weaker CPU of that generation might not.
johnm160:
--- Quote from: Haze on April 16, 2023, 12:54:35 am ---
--- Quote from: PL1 on April 15, 2023, 02:38:16 pm --- Processor - I3 or higher
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I think it's time to start being more specific here.
i3 / i5 / i7 labels alone are meaningless as this point, because there are so many generations of them (14 at this point)
The difference between a first gen i3/i5/i7 and a current gen i3/i5/i7 is huge, and in many cases can be 2-3 times the performance at the same clock speed as far as MAME is concerned.
At this point, I think it's best to say a 6th generation or above. Technically I still do dev on an i7-4790K, which is 4th generation (10 years ago!) but it's was one of the fastest CPUs of that generation so *just about* still holds up for the more demanding netlist audio etc. A weaker CPU of that generation might not.
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I currently have an i5 6500 3.2ghz sitting here doing nothing. I can repurpose that into something. I was thinking an i3 6th gen or better would probably be fine for donkey kong and tempest. My local guy does have limited i3 that fit that. I would rather try to fit the pc to the specific games on these two at least since they will be dedicated to one game each.
Malenko:
--- Quote from: pbj on April 15, 2023, 09:38:52 pm ---Will these run NFL Blitz 100%?
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I only test on Gauntlet Legends.